Bouncers in bright yellow shirts pat you down head to toe. They take away your chewing gum, any pills and even chap stick. You walk though a dark doorway where more bouncers check the validity of your ticket, they bend, stretch and scan it to make sure it's real. Finally you walk through another dark hallway until you enter the arena. Laser-lights hit you from every direction. You suddenly find it hard distinguishing your own heartbeat from the earth-shaking base coming from the gigantic walls of speakers. Then you look out over an ominous sea of people dancing all throughout the arena. Some with multicolored lights and glow sticks, some without. You can feel the energy of the crowd as the DJ kindles the music from a simple beat, adding volume and base, building anticipation. Higher and higher he goes, continually building up the music, until the much-awaited climax, where the music seemingly ignites, and the crowd goes wild with joy. And all this is just the first ten minutes. 

You come to see the many internationally known DJ's as well as many local talents. You go down a concrete stairway, and the music starts to fade from the high-energy dance music upstairs to a calmer, ambient techno. In this area most people are sitting down, but some are doing interpretive dance, just kind of flowing with the music. Still in this gigantic basement you walk past tape traders, artists selling their work, clothing stands and massage therapy booths. You walk through a large crowded doorway and yet again the music changes from ambient techno to a loud thumping drum and base sound. As you walk towards the stage you take notice of the many "neo-psychedelic" video clips and light displays projected onto gigantic screens to either side of the stage. Once you reach the drum and base area the energy in unparalleled. In this area MC's and DJ's work together to provoke the crowd. It's a much different atmosphere because this stage protrudes into the crowd like a runway, so its much more of an in-your-face atmosphere. With their improvisational rhymes and thumping base backdrop, this area is by far the most intense in the arena. 

After dancing a while you decide to go buy a horrible overpriced energy drink, for reasons beyond logic. As you make the journey back upstairs you notice the crazy, wild and sometimes very elaborate costumes many people are wearing. The clothing ranges on a wide spectrum from jeans and a tee shirt to a fully illuminated body suit and a full body Tigger outfit. Many people are wearing brightly colored bracelets, visors, goggles, and sometimes angel wings. After your energy drink you meet up, with some old friends, and meet some new ones; you can sit down with just about any random person and talk with them for hours. 

Suddenly you realize that somehow 11 hours have passed and the Internationally known special guest DJ is doing his last set. So you rush up to the front of the arena playfully dancing your way to the front of the crowd, and it begins, the final song of the night. You exchange glances with those around you talking about how amazing this DJ is. All of a sudden he starts building up the anticipation of the crowd, it's a much more intense feeling now than when you first came. Hands are flying and people are cheering. As the music builds up the crowd gets wilder and wilder, the energy is felt all throughout the crowd. At this point the anticipation is unbearable, the music gets higher, and higher, and higher until finally with the flick of a switch, the turn of a knob, and the gentle movement of a vinyl record, the DJ produces one of the most beautiful trance songs ever heard, and the crowd explodes with excitement. The music oves like a tsunami throughout the crowd, such an experience is absolute beauty. But after the beauty and the music fades, the night is over and you must leave this magical place until next time. As you leave, many of the same people you saw inside are passing out flyers for future parties from PA to NY to NC. But somehow even though they are incredible distances away, you convince yourself that you'll attend all of them. Before leaving you look back one last time at the empty arena and dream of parties yet to come.